Rudy Apffel

Czerny Op 740 #39, 2 Versions

This study will work for ballet class across a wide range of tempos slower than Czerny’s, but I find it sounds sluggish unless I project its percussive toccata character. And, as usual, I’ve created a drastically simplified one-pager of #39 to get around my personal technical shortcomings.

This is my performance of my one-pager of #39, for which I provide a score. I use only about a third of Czerny’s material and round it off with repeats creating a little rondo. My (shocking) simplification is to use only Czerny’s RH material and use both hands to play it. But having gone that far, I elaborated my LH part to provide melody (a bit of Grieg) and some waltz-comping.

My default recipe for making a 3/4 duple is to add a beat to each measure. In the case of #39 the recipe is mostly to repeat the first beat. For the long chromatic scales (mm 21-28, etc.) something more sophisticated is needed.

This is my performance of my 1st Version of #39 in 4/4, a beat having been added to each measure. I provide a score where you can see my strategies for the additional beats and the interpolation of cadences to mark off large structures. The extension of each measure gives the music a tenuous, relaxed character (especially with the lengthened chromatic scales).